How dangerous are pit bulls?

You usually don’t have to watch the news very much before you hear a story involving a pit bull biting or attacking someone. Some of the accounts of the attacks are horrifying. In one attack, two pit bulls attacked three women and teenage boy in 2013.

The woman said, “One literally went for my leg and [the] other was trying to jump on top of me, but I was hitting them, and I was punching them,” said one of the 24-year-old women. “They both weren’t letting go, once they got a hold of my leg. These dogs were, like, trained to kill; trained to hurt and viciously attack people.”

Are pit bulls vicious attack dogs? A review of dog-bite injuries published in the Journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery found that at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, pit bull attacks account for 51 percent of all dog bites. Rottweilers accounted for 9 percent, while dogs that were a mix of pit bull and Rottweiler were responsible for 6 percent of the bites. The review lasted five years and the findings show that two-thirds of dog attacks involved Rottweilers and pit bulls.

Other studies report similar findings. A study from 2011 fund that “attacks by pit bulls are associated with higher morbidity rates high hospital charges and a higher risk of death than are attacks by other breeds of dogs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pit bulls are recognized and implicated in most dog-bite cases. The following breeds make up the top ten of breeds that are most likely to kill someone in an attack:

— Pit bull

— Rottweilers

— German shepherds

— Huskies

— Wolf hybrid

— Malamutes

— Doberman pinschers

— Chow chows

— Saint Bernards

— Great danes

Another study that was published in the journal of Forensic Sciences found that those who owned violent dogs were more likely to have criminal convictions for drug, alcohol, domestic violence and more.

If you have been bitten by a pit bull or another other dog, you do have recourse. An attorney can help you by providing more information on your legal rights.